


Love and Stuff

by boolarus



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Implied/Referenced Abuse, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-07-27
Updated: 2015-08-28
Packaged: 2018-04-11 14:57:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,065
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4440236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boolarus/pseuds/boolarus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>From toddler to teen to full grown adult, Natalya has been in love her whole life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Unwanted Attractions

Natalya wasn’t a special child. She wasn’t particularly pretty or smart and her mother would never fail to remind her of that. But nevertheless Natalya loved her mother. She loved her mother, her sister, and especially her brother. 

Ivan was two years older and their mother’s favorite, though she insisted she loved all her children equally. Natalya didn’t blame her, Ivan was her favorite too. He was Natalya’s definition of the perfect boy.  
He was tall (for an eleven year old), and so cheerful and happy. Natalya was completely infatuated with him, so much so she wanted to be just like him. She was determined to find a way to be with him forever. 

“Mama, how could I be with someone always? What’s an excuse for never leaving somebody’s side?” she would ask. 

“Oh _devochka_ ,” her mother would say. “You mean marriage, but even then men can’t be faithful. Men are horrible, you got that?” Natalya would hang her head, “I don’t think all boys are like that Mama.” 

She would kneel down to Natalya’s height and smile, “Silly baby girl, what men do you know who won’t lie and cheat, huh? They say they’ll never hurt you, but then they give you these.” She pointed to the purple bruise newly formed on her face. 

Natalya refused to believe her brother would harm her, or anyone for that matter. He was too pretty, too innocent and soft to even hurt a mouse. 

She made it her personal quest to get Ivan to marry her and prove her mother wrong. It started by doing nice things for him like cleaning around his bed, doing his chores, getting him snacks. Ivan grew used to the kind treatment from his little sister and eventually it became second nature to the both of them. 

One afternoon after Natalya retrieved Ivan’s crayons for him she sat next to him at the kitchen table and asked, “Ivan, do you love me?” 

“Uh, yeah I guess so.” He replied uncomfortably. 

“How much do you love me?” she said. 

The boy paused and frowned. “Why?” 

“I want to ask you a really important question, but I need to know how much you love me.” Natalya said in a very serious tone. Their older sister Kat sat on the other side of the table reading, but stopped to nervously watch them. 

Playing along, Ivan took a red crayon and drew a big circle on his paper. “I love you this much, Nat!” he said with a smile. 

Natalya grinned and cleared her throat, “Ivan, will you marry me?” 

Ivan twisted his face in a disgusted matter, “EW, no! You’re my sister! You’re gross!” He grabbed his crayons and ran to his room. 

Natalya felt her heart being ripped in two. 

“Aw, that wasn’t very nice of you Ivan!” Kat yelled at him. 

Natalya was a very persistent girl. “Ivan, come out of your room and marry me!” she banged on his door and kept shouting “Marry me! Marry me! Marry me!” until Kat had to drag her outside to get her to settle down. 

For the next few weeks Natalya wouldn’t give up. She would consistently ask him whenever they were alone and then question why he wouldn’t. 

“Why am I gross? What’s wrong with wanting to marry your brother? You should be flattered!” She would say.

“It’s gross because I said so. I won’t marry you! Leave me alone!” 

“I can’t take any more of this nonsense. Katyusha! Go take these two to the park, the toy store, ice cream, anything! Just get them out of here.” Their mother tossed a twenty dollar bill down on the table and the three grabbed their coats. 

Kat took them to the park, she didn’t want to waste her mother’s money. They had so little already. It was cold and the slide was icy but Ivan climbed up anyway. Natalya followed him to the top. “Ivaaan,” she whined, “marry me!” 

“For the last time Natalya,” Ivan would always call her Nat, never Natalya. “NO!” 

He pushed her and Natalya fell backwards down the slide and onto her wrist. 

Kat shrieked and ran to her little sister’s side. “IVAN!” she yelled, tears forming in her eyes. Natalya screamed in pain and started crying gross, ugly, tears. She could feel her bones crack, she heard the crunch. “Ivan go get Mama!” The park was right across from their apartment building. The boy stood for a second, shocked, then jumped from the playset and sprinted across the street. 

Later that night Natalya was in the back of the car, leaning on the window rather than her brother. The orange streetlights illuminated her mother's pained expression. They drove in silence, all you could hear was Natalya's soft whimpers of pain. The doctor said her wrist was broken, but they couldn’t afford proper treatment at the moment. She held her wrist together in a makeshift sling, once Kat’s jacket. Their mother had spent the evening coddling Ivan, for he did nothing wrong. All the blame rested on the disrespectful, stupid Natalya. "You did this to yourself, _devochka_." She said. 

“Serves you right.” Ivan mumbled under his breath. Natalya heard him and silent tears fell down her cheek. At that moment Natalya vowed to never let another boy, especially her brother, hurt her again.

And she kept that vow for an awful long time too, until she met Alfred.


	2. Two False Teeth and a Restraining Order (part 1)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Natalya finds revenge in a boy she hit with a dodge ball

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm splitting this plot line into two chapters because i didn't want to have a short chapter then one that'ss like ten thousand words lmao... enjoy!

The fall breeze gently blew through Natalya’s hair. She shifted her heavy book bag from shoulder to shoulder and tapped her foot impatiently on the ground. The bus was always late and today was no different. 

She took a seat on the curb and stared at the filthy pile of leaves accumulating in the gutter. It was so close to Halloween, her favorite holiday, but Natalya felt no joy. Ever since Kat left for college she’s felt so alone. They barely got to speak, since Kat had to work extra hard to maintain her scholarship and had little time to sit on the phone and listen to Natalya’s problems. 

Ivan hadn’t spoken to her in almost two months now. And her mother was less than pleased with her recent grades. Sophomore year was not off to a very good start. 

Natalya looked up at the big yellow rusted bug that crawled up in front of her. She gathered her emotions and boarded. 

“Late again Natalya, please wake up earlier.” Her homeroom teacher said. Natalya apologized, even though her lateness had nothing to do with when her alarm clock went off. 

“Sleep well?” Gilbert asked. She turned around in her desk briefly to roll her eyes at him, her best friend. 

“How could I get any sleep with you blowing my phone up with pictures of frogs? Get a life, Gil.” She said. Gilbert leaned back in his seat, clearly looking pleased. 

The lunch room is noisy and doesn’t provide much space for thinking. Natalya sits at a table in the corner with the only two people who matter, Gilbert and Liz. Gil threw a whole box of Twinkes on the table and pointed. “Eat up children.” 

“Ugh, gross. Do you know how many calories are in just one of those things? Save them for my Halloween party.” Liz gaged and pushed the creamy pastries away from her. “It’s gonna be the best yet this year.” 

Natalya grabbed a handful, “I’m not prepared at all. I haven’t even started my costume yet.” 

“But you love Halloween! You’ve got to think of something.” Liz pouted at her friend. Natalya wiped the sugary cream from the corners of her mouth and decided to change the touchy subject. “So Liz, how’s the boyfriend?” 

“Oh yeah, how’s that preppy piano fucker doing for you?” Gilbert said smirking. 

“First of all Gil, you’ve got cream on your nose you dumb baby. Second, I will say this for the last time, he does not fuck pianos. Third, just fine actually. Roderich is a gem and he bought me a pretty bracelet.” Liz held up her arm to show her friends the silver charm bracelet that fit just right on her wrist. 

“You seem happy, does he make you happy?” Natalya asked. 

Liz smiled and nodded, “Yeah, I’ve been pretty happy actually.” 

She was clearly lying but Natalya didn’t want to bring it up in front of Gilbert. Emotions made him uncomfortable and he always tried to fix it with a joke. Usually a bad one that made the situation worse. 

“That’s good, I’m really happy for you Liz. I just can’t believe you’re dating a penis.” 

“Pianist!” Liz shouted. Gil almost spit out his juice from laughing.

“But then again I guess technically you’re not wrong.” She added. They filled any extra space in the cafeteria with their obnoxious laughter. 

Three whistles and everyone flooded out of the locker rooms to the gym floor. Natalya stood awkwardly next to Liz, almost clinging to her. There were roughly 1,000 sophomore girls at their high school and Liz was by far the prettiest to ever walk through the main doors. She had long, wavy, milky brown hair and dazzling eyes that never stayed focused on one thing, like green flies. She deserved way better than some pretentious pianist from the jazz band. 

“You ready for some dodge ball?” Liz smiled maliciously and held the rubber ball of death up in the air just out of Nat’s reach. She was slightly taller too. Natalya noticed Liz looking at something just behind her.

“What is it, what are you looking at?” Nat tried to turn around but her friend stopped her. 

“Ok so this guy is totally checking you out Nat.” Liz whispered, she tightened her grip on Natalya’s arm. 

“Do you know him? What does he look like?” Natalya asked. Liz shook her head. 

“You’re not gonna like it.” She said, tilting her head sympathetically. 

Nat sighed, “Yeah well that’s a given for pretty much anyone. Just tell me!” 

Liz bit her lip and squeezed Natalya’s arm again. “Alfred Jones, that kid who bullied your brother when they were freshman. Remember? Ivan beat the shit out of him and got suspended. I heard Alfred had to get two false teeth and a restraining order.” 

Natalya remembered. The day Ivan snapped and got sent home. When their mother found out she blamed Katyusha for not protecting her little brother from the bullies in the first place. Ivan got off clean with a kiss on the forehead where one tiny cut from Alfred’s fingernail lay. Kat got a bloody lip. 

“You know he didn’t really get a restraining order. That was just a rumor.” Natalya said. 

“That’s all?” Liz asked, surprised. Nat shrugged. He had probably been checking Liz out instead of her, but Natalya didn’t say that. 

“Hey Nat, think fast!” she barely had time to think anything as an overly friendly boy from science threw a dodge ball right at her face. Nat wacked it behind her and heard a loud _Thwak! ___

“Ah, shit.” She turned around where Alfred was trying to regain his balance after being hit in the head by the out of control ball. His glasses were still intact but laying on the floor. 

“Sorry about that. Here,” Natalya handed him his glasses, “Pay more attention.” 

Alfred rubbed his head and nervously looked around at all the students watching. “Oh, uh, thanks?” 

Natalya nodded and let herself be dragged away by Liz. “Well, if he wasn’t looking at you before he definitely will be now.” She laughed. 

The day was over soon after and Natalya was ready to get out of hell and into a slightly better one. The bus after school was always much more smelly and crowded, so if the weather permitted she walked home. 

She could barely leave the parking lot when a sad looking rusty grey car pulled up next to her. A head popped out, blond and brave. “Hey Natalya!” Alfred smiled at her. 

“Oh uh, hi.” Natalya tried to walk around the car, but her escape plan failed. Alfred continued to make contact. 

“Remember me? Alfred F. Jones, you hit me with a dodge ball in gym today.” He joked. Alfred seemed to have no anger towards Natalya, much to her relief. 

“Shit yeah, I’m really sorry about that.” Natalya crossed her arms and smiled nervously. What the hell was with this guy? 

“Oh don’t worry about it, Nat! Can I call you Nat?” 

“No.” 

“Oookay, well uh can I offer you a ride home? It’s kinda chilly today don’t you think?” Alfred leaned over and opened his passenger side door with a big grin. 

Natalya didn’t think it was chilly at all, she was actually quite warm. Then Nat remembered, Ivan hated this guy with his whole being. And who did Nat hate with her whole being? Ivan. 

“Sure, that would be very nice.” She walked over and slid into the seat. The car smelled like citrus, its worn out seats embraced Natalya in their soft brown leather. “Nice car Alfred.” 

“Thanks, and you can just call me Al. All my friends do.” He said. 

“Okay Alfred.” 

He chuckled and asked where Natalya lived. “All the way on the other side of town, past the bridge.” 

“The bridge? Huh, that’s cool. I did some graffiti down there last year.” Alfred said nonchalantly. He was clearly trying to come off as a cool guy. Natalya could tell by the way he looked out the window and squinted his eyes behind those incredibly dorky glasses. Even the way he gripped the wheel, like every cool cop from those old movies. 

“You’re a graffiti artist?” Natalya laughed at the idea. 

“Yeah! I may seem like a good kid but I’m actually quite the rebel.” Alfred smiled like he himself couldn’t believe what he was saying. 

“My mother would kill me if I snuck out to paint buildings.” Natalya said. 

“Well, I need to do something to get back at my parents. They push me so hard with school, they got to expect some rebellion.” Alfred’s smile faded a bit. 

He cleared his throat and changed the subject to something about gym. All he did was talk, talk, talk, and Nat pretended to listen. His voice was slightly annoying but after a few minutes of listening to him speak she got used to it. What he had to say wasn’t as interesting as how he said it. 

They were finally coming up towards the bridge and Alfred pointed to the side of it frantically. “Look! There it is, my work of art.” 

Natalya looked to where we was pointing and let out a small gasp. It was beautiful. Somehow she had never noticed the painting before. The colors blended and danced off each other with such harmony it was so pleasant to the eye. Lines strung together forming some kind of face with deep eyes. She didn’t get what it meant, she could hardly understand what it was trying to look like but it was breathtaking.

“Wow Alfred I didn’t know you were such a good artist.” Natalya was amazed. 

“Thanks! I just love painting dogs.” He said, surprised. “I really like dogs.” 

“Huh? That’s a dog? I thought it was a girl.” Natalya looked back at the bridge and saw just under was an amateur scruffy looking orange dog. You could’ve mistaken it for a first graders art project, blown up and slapped on the concrete. “Oh, never mind.” 

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence and Natalya considered jumping out of the car and into the water not too far below. But that would be rude. She thought of the first thing that came to her mind and said it. 

“So my brother beat you up, right?” _Genius __._

“You’re very blunt, did you know that?” Alfred sighed and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter. “Yeah he did, three years ago.” He turned to Natalya and pointed to two of his teeth, slightly whiter than the rest. “I did get two false teeth but no restraining order. That’s just a myth.” 

“You know my brother still hates you? It’s kind of pathetic.” She said. 

Alfred shrugged, “I have nothing against him. I’ve changed since then. I wish I could thank your brother, actually.” They turned the corner and Nat pointed out their apartment building. They pulled up in front and before Natalya could open her door, Alfred ran out to open it for her. 

“Oh, uh thanks for the ride!” She said, taking his hand and stepping out of the car. Natalya turned to see where her brother was standing on the sidewalk watching with his face twisted up in disgust. Nat looked back at Alfred and gave him a small kiss on his cheek. 

“I, uh, ah, anytime!” He stuttered. 

_Perfect __._

Later that night, Natalya ate her dinner alone on the couch surrounded by all the homework she wasn’t going to do. It had been a peaceful night, Ivan didn’t break their silent spell to question her about his one sided nemesis and she hadn’t yet seen her mom.

“Natalya what the hell is this?” Spoke too soon.

In her mother’s hand was Natalya’s first report card for the year. “If I had to take one guess, I would say that was my report card Mom.” 

“Yeah no shit it is. Can you see what I’m seeing? I’m seeing failing grades and missing homework. What the fuck is wrong with you?” Ms. Arlovskya was real tough when it came to grades. Especially on Natalya, since she was the youngest. Her siblings set the bar a little too high.

“I didn’t fail anything mom, my lowest grade is a 73.” Natalya said. 

“Anything below an 85 is failing to me. Every failing grade earns you one week grounded. No leaving the house for six weeks.” 

Nat quickly did the math in her head. “Wait but what about Halloween? Liz has her party every year, I’m going to miss it!” Despite not having a costume yet, Natalya still really wanted to go. She would take any chance to hang out with her friends and get out of the house. Now she was stuck. 

“No exceptions, now get to bed."

It was only 8:16 and Natalya laid in bed and stared at the ceiling. She wasn’t as upset as she thought she should be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> update soon hopefully

**Author's Note:**

> The first time i posted this i deleted it bcs i got nervous lmao.......... pray for me


End file.
